The present invention relates to a vehicle lamp device having a rectangular headlamp.
Recently, rectangular headlamps, which are rectangular in shape as viewed from the front, have been extensively employed for automotive vehicles. In practice, a rectangular headlamp is often used in combination with another rectangular lamp such as a rectangular fog lamp or rectangular clearance lamp. That is, there has been a tendency to employ a so-called "compound headlamp".
A unit movable rectangular headlamp is available in which a reflector is integral with the inner surface of its lamp body, so that the adjustment in the angle of irradiation of the headlamp (hereinafter referred to as "aiming adjustment" when applicable) is achieved by tilting the lamp body with respect to the lamp housing, which is mounted on the vehicle body. In the case where the unit movable rectangular headlamp is positioned adjacent, for instance, a rectangular fog lamp, the gap between the two lamps is unavoidably large because the vibration of the headlamp caused by the aiming adjustment, interference of aiming member mounting parts, and the presence of fixing metal parts for the lenses and the lamp bodies with the lamps adjacent thereto must be taken into account. Therefore, the compound headlamp has a poor external appearance when viewed from the front, and the two lamps are generally not harmonious with each other.
Furthermore, the conventional compound headlamp is disadvantageous in that rainwater or dust is liable to enter the gap between the lamps, making them dirty, or enter through the gaps into the space behind the lamps, thus entering the latter through air holes formed in the rear walls of the lamp bodies.
In the case where the unit movable rectangular headlamp is positioned adjacent to the bumper, a gap is formed between the headlamp and the bumper, thus involving the same problem.
Yet further, the invention relates to a vehicle lamp device having two lamps, namely, a tiltable headlamp and a vehicle lamp positioned beside the headlamp in such a manner that the front lenses of the two lamps are adjacent to each other. The invention provides a vehicle lamp device in which, even when the distance between the two lamps is made minimum, the front lenses of the lamps will not strike against each other, and accordingly preventing damage or noise.
As mentioned above, plural vehicle lamps such as headlamps and various marker or signal indicator lamps are installed on a vehicle such as an automobile. These vehicle lamps are sometimes installed adjacent to one another. For instance, a main headlamp and an auxiliary headlamp such as a fog lamp, a pair of headlamps in a so-called "four-lamp type headlamp unit", or a headlamp and a vehicle width lamp are often installed close to each other.
An example of a vehicle lamp device of this type is as shown in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 1, reference character a designates a main headlamp. The main headlamp includes a lamp body c having a reflecting mirror surface b which is of a paraboloid of revolution in shape, a front lens d covering the front opening of the lamp body c, and a light bulb e secured to the top of the lamp body c. The main headlamp a is tiltably supported on a lamp housing f.
Further in FIG. 1, reference character g designates an auxiliary headlamp such as a fog lamp. The auxiliary headlamp g includes a lamp body g, a lens i covering the front opening of the lamp body h, a mirror j tiltably arranged in the lamp space defined by the lamp body h and the lens i, and a light bulb k supported on the mirror j. The lamp body h is fixedly secured to the lamp housing f in such a manner that the front surface of the lens i is substantially flush with that of the lens d of the main headlamp a, and a small gap is provided between the lenses d and i of the two lamps a and g.
In general, an automobile headlamp requires an aiming adjustment. In other words, the headlamp should be so designed that after it is installed on the vehicle body, an initial adjustment of its irradiation direction can be performed.
The main headlamp a shown in FIG. 1 is of the unit movable type. The main headlamp is tiltably supported on the lamp housing f by a fulcrum mechanism (not shown) and a horizontal aiming adjustment mechanism (not shown). The fulcrum mechanism has a fulcrum at the point A which is located close to one end portion of the rear surface of the lamp body c. The horizontal aiming adjustment mechanism has an adjustment point sideward of the point A. The vertical aiming adjustment mechanism has an adjustment point downward of the point A. The horizontal aiming adjustment mechanism swings the lamp as indicated by the two-dot chain line (one-dot chain line) so that the direction of irradiation is adjusted in a horizontal plane. The vertical aiming adjustment mechanism swings the lamp vertically so that the direction of irradiation is adjusted in a vertical plane. On the other hand, the auxiliary headlamp g is of the movable-mirror type. In the auxiliary headlamp g, the mirror j is swingable vertically.
In the above-described conventional vehicle lamp device, depending on the initial aiming adjustment of the headlamp a, sometimes the front lenses d and i of the two lamps a and g are made extremely close to each other. If, under this condition, the automobile travels, then the front lenses d and i of the two lamps may strike against each other due to vibration, as a result of which they may be damaged, or a jarring noise may be produced, or at worst the lenses may be cracked or broken.
The above-described difficulty may be eliminated by increasing the gap between the two lamps. However, doing so involves another problem in that the resulting large gap gives a poor sense of design, or the space for installation of the lamps is increased.